MORE than half of Wales' first-time buyers now pay stamp duty on their home, a study has revealed.

MORE than half of Wales' first-time buyers now pay stamp duty on their home, a study has revealed.

A survey by the Nationwide Building Society found that 56% of Welsh first-time buyers now breach the £60,000 stamp duty threshold, with the typical first-time buyer paying £845 in stamp duty.

But 10 years ago only 10% of Wales' first-time buyers paid stamp duty and the Nationwide has calculated that if stamp duty had been index linked just 9% of Welsh first-time buyers would have had to have paid the duty.

The Nationwide is calling on the Government to raise the stamp duty threshold from £60,000 to £150,000 to take account of the rises in house prices.

It has raised concerns that across the UK the number of first-time buyers has fallen to its lowest level for 20 years, ascribing this to a mixture of rising house prices and increasing debt, including the impact of student loans.

Alex Bannister, Nationwide's group economist, said the number of first-time buyers in Wales was now 30% lower than it had been a decade ago.

"Homebuyers in Wales paid £65m in stamp duty in the year ended April 2003," he said. "This compares with only £10m 10 years earlier.

If Nationwide's proposals to increase the stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers were implemented, then 91% of first-time buyers in Wales would avoid paying stamp duty, making it easier to get on the housing ladder, he said.

"The total number of first-time buyers in Wales in 2003 was 16,600 - 30% fewer than the 23,700 who bought homes in the region 10 years ago, at the trough of the last housing market slump. The average price paid by first-time buyers in Wales is £84,529 which means a typical first-time buyer pays £845 in stamp duty."